Sunday was another great game for Tom Brady and the rest of the New England Patriots, as they improved to 4-0 on the season with a win in Dallas over the Cowboys. Tom adding yet another impressive stat to his resume by becoming just the third quarterback in NFL history to start a season 4-0, four separate times (Fran Tarkenton, Peyton Manning). The first half was a little rough and it took some time to get going, but the defense showed that they could control a game as well and they played well enough to get the job done. The first quarter was tough for the Patriots offense and Dallas showed that they were not intimated by the GOAT coming into Jerry Jones’ new Cowboys Stadium. Greg Hardy made his presence known early and was wreaking havoc in the backfield and making left tackle Nate Solder earn every bit of the $20 million contract that Bill Belichick invested in him. Hardy of course was fresh as it was his first game action since Week One with the Carolina Panthers after serving a suspension for being convicted accused of domestic violence. He only recorded two sacks on Tom, but he was forcing bad throws and making Brady uncomfortable all day. The Patriots offensive line gave up 5 sacks in the first half alone and it was not looking good for a while. Rolando McClain was also making his season debut for the Cowboys in the middle of their defense. After being a star at the University of Alabama he was drafted by the Oakland Raiders and his career did not take off like it was expected to. He is an extremely smart player and has found his way in Dallas and also recorded a first half sack on Brady. After the end of the first quarter, the Patriots only had a field goal to show and they were tied 3-3. The second quarter was a little more of the same for the Patriot offense. A rough start and a couple of punts later Tommy led the rest of the offense down the field and capped it off by him doing what he does best. Sneaking. Brady scored on a 1 yard touchdown and proceeded to spike the ball as he has become famous for and he was the most fired up as I have seen him all season. And not many things get me more “jacked and pumped” (Pete Carroll) than when Brady starts yelling “Let’s Go” at the top of his lungs. Goosebump city. But I digress. That was with about 3 minutes to go in the half. After trading punts, TB12 had the ball with a minute to go near midfield and one timeout. He drove down the field and set up Stephen Gostkowski with a 57 yard field goal, his career long, to go into the half with a 13-3 lead. It was all Patriots from there. Tom Brady threw two touchdown passes to Dion Lewis and Julian Edelman and the defense held the Dallas offense to just a field goal. This Dallas team was no joke though. They were missing Tony Romo and Dez Bryant and the Patriots defense did a great job locking down future HOF tight end Jason Witten. The final score was 30-6 and it was a huge win for the Patriots but it was a bigger win for Brady. He got the chance to stick it to Jerry Jones, who was extremely supportive of Fuhrer Roger Goodell during the Deflategate witch hunt saga, and to get a win over the arrogant clown that Greg Hardy is following his remarks about the first lady (Gisele). It came out today that Nate Solder is lost for the season after tearing his biceps during the game this past Sunday, which would explain why Greg Hardy was such an impact player for the first half. Marcus Cannon stepped in for the second half and Hardy was not a huge factor, and he is expected to remain at left tackle for the rest of the year. It’s a huge loss but injuries are going to happen in the NFL. Marcus Cannon is more than capable of stepping in and performing and I am confident that it will not change very much going forward. Tony Romo was heard coming up to Brady in the post game handshakes and saying the words “see you in February.” And after getting so close last year it would not surprise me if they made a serious run late in the season when everyone comes back healthy. And now it’s finally Indianapolis week. I’ll get more into the details during my preview later on this week, but it’s by far the most important game of the season. After all of the nonsense this off-season that the Colts organization started with Deflategate, its payback time. The Colts have been getting annihilated by Tom Brady for almost 20 years and this is the worst thing that they possibly have done. Publicly, the Patriots are saying that it’s just another game. But anyone with a brain knows it’s time for revenge. And what better way to do it than on Sunday Night Football at Lucas Oil Stadium. #PrayForIndy
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This upcoming week is going to be a lot more difficult than a lot of people think. Coming off the bye week, we all know that the extra week to prepare for the Dez Bryant and Tony Romo-less Cowboys has been nothing but beneficial, as well as giving some well-deserved resting time for the players, but this game is not going to be a cake walk. Brandon Weeden is not as bad as his career has played out and they have a top offensive line in football. And for as good as Dez Bryant is for that team, and he certainly is a huge loss, but the Cowboys have a bunch of other guys who are more than capable of stepping up and making plays. Jason Witten is already having another pro bowl worthy season, coming into the game with 25 catches for 238 touchdowns and 2 touchdowns. With guys like Gronk and Jimmy Graham playing in the NFL and revolutionizing the tight end position, most people forget how good Jason Witten is. He has Hall of Fame worthy career stats and is a guy that teams would kill to have, and build around. The running game is also going to be very interesting. With the lack of success Demarco Murray is having up in Philadelphia, we can see how valuable the Dallas offensive line was. Joseph Randle was a nobody last year and he has grown into a very good back in this league (and my fantasy team). He and Darren McFadden have been getting the bulk of the carries for the Cowboys this season and the offensive line has done a tremendous job opening lanes for them to get to the next level of the defense and make plays. With that success comes a great passing game as well and it opens up passing lanes downfield because the defense has to defend the run first and foremost. Defensively it will be a challenge as well for TB12 because of the weapons (no pun intended) that the Cowboys defense has. Greg Hardy has not played a snap this season and has already put up some completely unnecessary bulletin board material for the Patriots. When he was asked about Tom Brady he simply didn’t even acknowledge the question and simply said he hoped that Gisele and her sister would be in attendance because of how beautiful they are. Granted, that statement is true, but for a guy coming off a four game suspension because he “allegedly” threw his girlfriend onto a couch covered in assault rifles, and threatened to kill her, it probably was a little too soon to say comments objectifying women, let alone the wife of the quarterback you are about to face. But unfortunately, despite being one of the biggest pieces of trash in a league full of guys with questionable character, he’s a great defensive lineman and it’ll be interesting to see how the Patriots offensive line handles him and rookie Randy Gregory on the edge. Also, it just was announced today that the Cowboys leading tackler Sean Lee cleared concussion protocol and will be wearing his number 50 jersey in the middle of the defense on Sunday. He comes into the game with a team high 36 tackles, including 25 solo, and will try and disrupt Dion Lewis and the rest of the running game for New England. One thing to look out for is the Matt Cassel trade from a couple of weeks ago. The former Patriot was Tyrod Taylor’s backup up in Buffalo before the Cowboys traded for him following the Romo injury. He is an established quarterback in this league and has been successful as a starter, so I would not be surprised if Cowboys coach Jason Garrett called his number if Weeden starts to struggle early. Another thing to look for is for Danny Amendola to have a big game. Most people forget this, but Dallas was the first stop for Amendola. Before he was a great receiver for the St. Louis Rams, he was just another rookie trying to make an NFL team. He was an undrafted free agent out of Texas Tech (as if he and Wes Welker weren’t compared enough) and his first shot was with the Cowboys in 2008. He was heavily featured on the HBO show Hard Knocks and really turned some heads, but he was cut from the Cowboys following training camp. Danny is the type of guy who plays with a chip on his shoulder and I can pretty much guarantee that if he has a chance to stick it to Dallas for not sticking with him, he will take full advantage. My prediction of the game is New England 45-24. Why so lopsided you might ask? This is another “in your face” game for Tom Brady as Jerry Jones basically told him to just take his deflategate suspension and move on. For as ridiculous of a statement that is, it’s safe to say that Tommy will come out “guns a blazin,” (no, not you Greg Hardy) and be fired up to play. And as good as this Cowboys team is when they are healthy, they are not nearly the same team without Romo and Dez Bryant.
We’re four weeks into the 2015 NFL season and the Patriots have been proving to all the haters that they are still the frontrunner in not only the AFC but the league as well. After Tom Brady was cleared of his suspension (as everyone with a brain knew was going to happen) he has started this season as good as any in his already HOF worthy career. Only 7 days after he found out he could play, he opened up his “f**k you” campaign against the Steelers on national television with 288 yards and 4 touchdowns. This was a huge night for all of Patriot Nation because it was the night the Super Bowl 49 banner was revealed. #NoBradyNoBanner was a popular movement across all of New England throughout the Deflategate saga and it just fueled Patriot fans nationwide to continue defending the wall against Roger Goodell and the rest of his communist regime. When the NFL lost their case in court, which was just the latest example of Goodell’s incompetence, he pouted like a child and decided to not attend the opening game of the NFL season because he believed that “the focus should be on the game on the field and the festivities celebrating the Patriots' Super Bowl championship.” Or it was because he would have gotten boo’d out of the building because he tried to ruin the reputation of one of the league’s all-time greats just because the owners were sick of him dominating the rest of the league for 15 years. But I digress.
Brady and the rest of the Patriots went up to Ralph Wilson Stadium to face the Buffalo Bills. Rex Ryan is the new coach of the Bills and had his team and the rest of western New York drinking the kool aid about how it was their year and that finally he was going to dethrone the Patriots in the AFC East. The playful banter on the behalf of the Bills was great bulletin board material and they showed yet again that they are still inferior of the 4 time Super Bowl champ. Brady came out against the “unstoppable” Buffalo defense and went 38 of 59 for 466 yards and 3 touchdowns. Brady and the Patriots dismantled them on their own field and he improved his career record against the Bills to 24-3. The next week they hosted the winless Jacksonville Jaguars and defeated them 51-17. It was on this day that Tom Brady completed 33 of 42 passes including his 400th and 401st career touchdowns, joining only Brett Favre, Peyton Manning, Dan Marino and as of last night, Drew Brees. As if it wasn’t impressive enough, he has the fewest number of interceptions at the point of the 400th touchdown pass in NFL history. This season Brady has 1,112 passing yards, 9 touchdowns, no interceptions and a QB rating of 119.6 ranking 3rd in the league only behind Aaron Rodgers and Andy Dalton. And since the halftime of the AFC Championship against the Colts, in which this Deflategate nonsense started, Brady is 145 of 197 with 1,571 passing yards, 15 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. That is only 18 quarters of football. Rodney Harrison played alongside Tom Brady for six seasons and won two Super Bowls as a member of the Patriots in the early 2000s. He had the quote of the offseason regarding Deflategate and the consequences of the accusations. “He will be supremely motivated this year. I know him. I know how he thinks. And this is going to be very bad for the rest of the league when they play Brady this year…This is the best thing that could have happened to Tom Brady. This will rejuvenate him. The rest of the league better look out. This year, he’s going to make everybody pay for what’s happened.” When asked about retirement last season, the 38 year old was quoted as saying “when I suck, I’ll retire.” At this rate he’ll be playing into his 50s because he is playing like he is still in his prime. Deflategate brought a lot of negativity to the New England Patriots and specifically to their poster boy Tom Brady. But one thing that Tom has proved time and time again throughout his football career is that he always finds ways to prove people wrong. And I agree with Rodney Harrison. There is nothing the NFL wanted less than a pissed off Tom Brady. He is taking every game personally and this may be his most important campaign yet, and I have a feeling that every NFL team will need to prepare for a war when they play New England. Because they are playing for more than themselves this year. They are playing for their reputation, as well as their fearless leader TB12. #PrayForTheNFL |
Pat O'Hearne
Just a kid from Boston trying his luck in Cleveland Archives
March 2017
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